Sorcerer/Lunar-Linux/Source Mage

Sorcerer/Lunar-Linux/Source Mage (SLS) are all source-based distros, much like Gentoo is, but are originally related to one another. SLS distros use a rather simple set of script files to create package descriptions, and use a global configuration file to configure the compilation process, much like the Arch Build System. The SLS tools do full dependency checking (including handling optional features) and package tracking (and uninstalling/upgrading). There are no binary packages for any of the SLS family, although they all can roll back earlier installed packages easily.

The install involves installing a base system (much like Arch's: i686-optimized, CLI and ncurses menus, only core tools), then recompiling the base system (optionally) afterwards. There is obviously no "standard" WM/DE/DM, and Xorg is not included in the base installation. Several X server alternatives are available (X.Org 6.8 or 7, XFree86).

SLS has a very complicated history. Perhaps the best write-up about it can be found at the SourceMage wiki.

Minimalist

The minimalist distros are quite comparable to Arch, sharing several similarities. All are considered 'simple' from a technical standpoint.

LFS

LFS, (or Linux From Scratch) exists simply as documentation. The book instructs the user on how to obtain the minimal base package set for a functional GNU/Linux system, and how to manually compile and configure it from scratch. LFS is as minimal as it gets, and offers an excellent and educational process of building a base system. Arch provides these very same packages, plus a BSD-style init, a few extra tools and the powerful pacman package manager as its base system, already compiled for i686/x86-64. LFS provides no online repositories; sources are manually obtained, compiled and installed with make. (Several manual methods of package management exist, and are mentioned in LFS Hints) Along with the minimal Arch base system, the Arch community and developers provide and maintain many thousands of binary packages installable via pacman as well as PKGBUILD build scripts for use with the Arch Build System. Arch also includes the makepkg tool for expediently building or customizing Template:Filename packages, readily installable by pacman. Judd Vinet built Arch from scratch, and then wrote pacman in C. Historically, Arch was sometimes humorously described simply as "Linux, with a nice package manager."

CRUX

Arch is independently developed, was built from scratch and is not based on any other GNU/Linux distribution. Before creating Arch, Judd Vinet admired and used CRUX, a minimalist distro created by Per Lidén. Originally inspired by ideas in common with CRUX, Arch was built from scratch, and pacman was then coded in C. The two share some guiding principles: for instance, both are architecture-optimized, minimalist and K.I.S.S.-oriented. Both ship with ports-like systems, use *BSD-style init systems and, like *BSD, both provide a minimal base environment to build upon. Arch features pacman, which handles binary system package management and works seamlessly with the Arch Build System. CRUX uses a community contributed system called prt-get, which, in combination with its own ports system, handles dependency resolution, but builds all packages from source (though the CRUX base installation is i686 binary). Arch officially supports x86-64 and i686, whereas CRUX is i686-only.

Arch uses a rolling-release system and features a large array of binary package repositories as well as the Arch User Repository. CRUX provides a more slimmed-down officially supported ports system in addition to a modest community repository.

Graphical

Sometimes called "newbie" distros, the graphical distros share a lot of similarities, though Arch is quite different from them. Arch may be a better choice if you want to learn about GNU/Linux by building up from a very minimal base, as an installation of Arch installs very few packages in comparison. Graphical distros tend to ship with GUI installers (like Fedora's Anaconda) and GUI system-configuration tools (like SUSE's YaST). Specific differences between distros are described below.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an immensely popular Debian-based distro commercially sponsored by Canonical Ltd., while Arch is an indepedently developed system built from scratch. Both projects have very different goals and are targeted at a different user base. Arch is designed for users who desire a do-it-yourself approach, whereas Ubuntu provides an autoconfigured system which is meant to be more of a distribution for 'all'. If you want to get up and running quickly and not fiddle around with the guts of the system as much, Ubuntu is better suited. Arch is presented as a much more minimalist design from the base installation onward, relying heavily on the user to customize it to their own specific needs. In general, developers and tinkerers will probably like Arch better than Ubuntu, though some Arch users claim to have started on Ubuntu and eventually migrated to Arch. Ubuntu moves between discrete releases every 6 months, whereas Arch is a rolling-release system. Arch offers a ports-like package build system, the Arch Build System, while Ubuntu does not. The two communities differ in some ways as well. The Arch community is much smaller and is strongly encouraged to be proactive; a large percentage contribute to the distro. In contrast, the Ubuntu community is relatively large and can therefore tolerate a much larger percentage of users who do not actively contribute to development, package or repo maintenance.

Fedora

Fedora is a spin-off from the Red Hat distribution and has continually been one of the most popular distributions to date. As such, there is a massive community and lots of pre-built packages and support available. Fedora packages are RPM-based, using YUM as its package manager. Arch uses pacman to manage Template:Filename packages. Fedora famously doesn't attempt to support the MP3 media format due to perceived patent issues. Arch is more lenient in its disposition toward MP3 and other media. Fedora offers both a graphical and a text installer. Arch does not offer a graphical installer, but rather, uses an ncurses-based installer, relying more on the user for manual configuration. Fedora has a scheduled release cycle. Arch is a rolling-release system. The Arch design approach is geared more toward lightweight elegance and minimalism rather than automation/auto-configuration. Fedora does innovate and recently earned much community recognition for integration of SELinux and GCJ compiled packages to remove the need for Sun's JRE. Fedora supports neither JFS nor ReiserFS out of the box.

PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS is a popular Mandriva-based distro providing a complete DE, designed for user-friendliness and is described as "simple", though its definition of simple is quite different than the Arch definition. Arch is designed as a simple base system to be customized from the ground up and is aimed more toward advanced users. PCLOS uses the apt package manager as a wrapper for RPM packages. Arch uses its own independently-developed pacman package manager with Template:Filename packages. PCLOS is very GUI-driven, provides GUI hardware configuration tools and the Synaptic package management front-end, and claims to have little or no reliance on the shell. Arch is command-line oriented and designed for more simple approaches to system configuration, management and maintenance. PCLOS recommends 256MB RAM as part of its minimum system requirements. Being more lightweight, Arch can run on systems with much less system memory, requiring only 64MB of RAM for a base i686 install, and will run flawlessly on more modern systems.

The *BSDs

Both Arch and *BSD offer a tightly-integrated base and ports system combined with available binary packages. The BSDs derive from Berkeley UNIX. Therefore, *BSDs are not GNU/Linux distros, but rather, UNIX-like OS's.

FreeBSD

Both Arch and FreeBSD offer software which can be obtained using binaries or compiled using 'ports' systems. Both share a very similar init system. FreeBSD boasts that it is more of a system designed as a whole, compared to GNU/Linux distros, with each application 'ported' over to FreeBSD and made sure to work in the process. Both use Template:Filename as a main configuration file. The FreeBSD license is generally more protective of the coder, compared to the GPL, which in contrast favors protection of the code itself. Arch is released under the GPL. In FreeBSD, like Arch, decisions are delegated to you, the power user. This may be the most interesting comparison to Arch since it goes head-to-head in package modernity and has a somewhat sizable, smart, active, no-nonsense community. Both systems share many similarities and FreeBSD users will generally feel quite comfortable with most aspects of Arch.

NetBSD

NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable UNIX-like open-source operating system available for over 50 platforms, from 64-bit Opteron machines and desktop systems to hand-held and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent in both production and research environments, and it is user-supported with complete source. Many applications are easily available through pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection. Arch may not operate on the vast number of devices NetBSD operates on, but for an i686 system it may offer more applications. Also, the default installation method in pkgsrc is to pull and compile sources whereas Arch offers binary packages. Arch does share many similarities with NetBSD; both use Template:Filename as the primary configuration file, they are very minimalist and lightweight, they both offer ports systems as well as binaries and both have active, no-nonsense developers and communities. Arch also borrows from *BSD for its init system concepts.

In common with Arch, OpenBSD offers a small, elegant, base install and uses a ports system and packaging systems to allow for easy installation and management of programs which are not part of the base operating system. In contrast to a GNU/Linux system like Arch, but in common with most other BSD-based operating systems, the OpenBSD kernel and userland programs, such as the shell and common tools (like ls, cp, cat and ps), are developed together in a single source repository.

Other

These OS's fall into the 'other' category.

Debian GNU/Linux

Debian is a much larger project and community and features stable, testing, and unstable branches, offering over 20,000 binary packages. Arch does not 'split' their packages into "-dev" and "-common" as Debian does, therefore, Arch repositories will seem much smaller. Debian has a more vehement stance on free software. Arch is more lenient when it comes to 'non-free' packages as defined by GNU. Debian's design approach focuses more on stability and stringent testing. Arch is focused more on the philosophy of simplicity, minimalism, and offering bleeding edge software. Arch packages are more current than Debian Stable and Testing, typically being about equal with Debian unstable. Both Debian and Arch offer well-regarded package management systems. Arch is a rolling release, whereas Debian Stable is released with "frozen" packages. Debian is available for many architectures, including alpha, arm, hppa, i386, x86_64, ia64, m68k, mips, mipsel, powerpc, s390, and sparc, whereas Arch is i686 and x86_64 only. Arch provides more expedient support for building custom, installable packages from outside sources, with a ports-like package build system. Debian does not offer a ports system, relying instead on its huge binary repositories. The Arch installation system only offers a minimal base, transparently exposed during system configuration, whereas Debian's methods offer a more automatically configured approach as well as several alternative methods of installation. Debian utilizes the SysVinit, whereas Arch uses a simpler *BSD-style init.